I’m sad to report this will be my last blog. We have arrived at our hotel in Sydney. Tomorrow morning, Monday, Jan. 13, we head across the street to the airport and catch our first flight to Auckland at 11:50 a.m. We have a 3.5 hour long flight to Auckland and then a three hour layover. We then leave Auckland at 8 p.m. to arrive in Vancouver at 12:10 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 13. Yes, you read that correctly. We leave Sydney at 11:50 a.m. and arrive in Vancouver at 12:10 p.m. technically on the same day. We will only lose 20 minutes even though we will have been traveling for almost 20 hours.

A few things to note. We walked over 100 miles during our 18 days. We drove almost 1,200 miles and 21 hours from Sydney to Adelaide.

This morning we woke up to a beautiful, sunny and clear day in Adelaide. This city has been very interesting to us. When we were in Sydney, the city was so clean. We literally saw someone at the train station cleaning a trash can. We hardly saw any graffiti. Then we got to Melbourne and there was graffiti everywhere and this was the first time we saw people who were living on the streets. We saw a few people suffering from mental illness yelling in the streets and at random people. The train stations were a little rundown in some places. But then you had these other sections of the city that were so intentionally pretty and well designed. It was such an odd mix. Then there is Adelaide. Adelaide is much smaller than both Sydney and Melbourne. Here there were lots of people who are homeless strolling the streets, asking passersby for money. I got approached today by a man who cut me off and asked for money. I told him I didn’t have anything and he moved on. Last night when we walked to get ice cream, we walked through the main shopping promenade. The streets were mostly empty, the stores were closed but there were several interesting characters all over the place. We never felt unsafe, it just seemed so odd after walking these same streets the day before and they were so lively and full of people. I guess I’m just surprised at the very visible population of people who are homeless in this beautiful city.

Ok, back on track…

After waking up, we had to return our car at the rental office. The Hertz office was literally across the street from our hotel so we could see the parking lot from our window. Although the parking lot was only 50 meters away, it was the wrong way down a one-way street so we did left, left, left to get back to the lot. We dropped off our car and I said bye car! Our car is the top left silver one.

Then we walked back across the street to get breakfast. I filled up on lots of food since I knew we’d have to check out of the hotel soon and wander the streets.

We went back to our room and packed up our bags and double-checked that we didn’t forget anything. Then we walked downstairs and checked out, right about the same time that the rest of the hotel was trying to check out. We got the number for the hotel shuttle to the airport and scheduled that for 4 p.m. We also dropped off our bags with reception to keep while we went to spend our last few hours in the city.

It was such a beautiful, warm day. We walked down Hindley Street which was once again full of people. We walked to Victoria Square to check out the park and fountain but the entire area was closed off for a cycling event that begins next week. From there we walked down to the river and sat on a bench in the sunshine. We saw many signs warning us about bats in the area. We also saw some signs warning us about snakes. I told Jacob I wanted some signs warning us about koalas, but no such luck.

We walked along the river for a bit and it wasn’t long until we saw a bat asleep in a tree. We made sure to steer clear. We continued on the path to visit the botanic gardens.

On our way to the gardens we looked off to our right and suddenly saw all these black things hanging in the trees. Hundreds of black things.. over multiple trees. It was the bats!

After that we decided to walk back to the shopping area to grab some lunch. We found a Mexican place and both got burritos. After lunch we walked over to the museum and state library grounds to sit on a shady bench. While we were taking in the sunshine I overheard an event going on nearby. It was a dog show outside the museum! We watched the dogs perform and do tricks. We enjoyed the free entertainment.

After that it was more soaking in the sunshine. But all good things must come to an end and we needed to head back to the hotel to gather our bags and await our shuttle.

Our shuttle arrived just after 4 p.m. and then we were off! The driver was very friendly. I accidentally headed to the wrong side of the van to get in and he told us a story about a Frenchman who had jumped into the driver’s seat. So at least I didn’t do that…

We arrived at the airport and breezed through security. It was the easiest security we have ever done, they didn’t even ask for our IDs at any point. Even when we got on the flight they didn’t check for IDs. We were through security and at our gate now with 1.5 hours to burn. I went down and bought a lamington to snack on and Jacob charged up our devices.

Our flight was uneventful except we were served dinner which was unexpected and welcomed! Jacob had chicken and rice and I had a salad. We flew over large stretches of burnt, black countryside and as we got closer to Sydney the air filled with smoke. Sydney’s air quality is unhealthy for sensitive groups and I joked that my Sydney lung is back. We gathered our bags and then had to take the train one stop to our hotel. It was a bittersweet final ride on the train. It felt so familiar! As the train sped off, I said bye train!

We are now at our hotel and it is quite late. Even though we are returning Monday, we will not be at work until Wednesday. We are taking Tuesday as a recovery day. I can’t wait to see Oscar!

Thanks for reading along. I hope it was enjoyable and I hope you missed us! See you all soon!

Until then!

 

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